A Big Life in Advertising - by Mary Lawrence (Paperback)

About the Book

One of the advertising world's all-time greats--the first woman president of an advertising agency and the first woman CEO of a company on the New York Stock Exchange--tells her riveting story. 36 photos.

Book Synopsis

The first woman president of an advertising agency and the first woman CEO of a company on the New York Stock Exchange tells her "riveting story: How she shattered every glass ceiling and became a Madison Avenue legend."*
From her role as fledgling copywriter at Doyle Dane Bernbach -- the agency that made big-car-obsessed America fall in love with the funny little Volkswagen -- to her brilliant campaign for Braniff Airways that had the flying public scrambling for seats on wild-colored planes to founding the fastest-growing ad agency in history, Mary Wells Lawrence's life in advertising couldn't be any bigger. As The New York Observer put it, her agency, Wells Rich Greene, created ads that "etched indelible phrases into the public imaginations: 'Flick your Bic' and 'I Love New York!' and 'Plop plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is.'"
For those thinking about a life in advertising for themselves and for anyone who enjoys being transported by a great storyteller's art, Mary Wells Lawrence is the most energetic, passionate guide to the world of American advertising in all its brilliance, excitement, fun and crazines

Review Quotes

The New Yorker [I]nsouciant, ebullient and, above all, stylish...the result is that most unusual of books -- an entertaining business memoir.

Alan Pell Crawford The Washington Post Book World [A] first-rate look at a special moment in the history of American advertising and American business.

Richard Stengel Time As engaging, effervescent and brave as the ads she created.

Stuart Elliott The New York Times Book Review Evocative and compelling...frank and forthright...You don't have to be in advertising to appreciate a big life in advertising.

About the Author

Mary Wells Lawrence was born in Poland, Ohio, and attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology. She has been inducted into both the Advertising Hall of Fame and the Copywriters Hall of Fame. She lives in Mustique, London and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.